{"id":244,"date":"2005-08-06T09:17:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-06T09:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/top-ten-books-earliest-christi.html"},"modified":"2005-08-06T09:17:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-06T09:17:00","slug":"top-ten-books-earliest-christi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/top-ten-books-earliest-christi.html","title":{"rendered":"Top Ten Books: Earliest Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

In this series of Top Ten Book we’ve looked at Spiritual Formation<\/a>, Missional Formation<\/a>, Jesus books<\/a>, the Apostle Paul<\/a>, and New Testament Theology<\/a>. This one is a list of my favorite books on earliest Christianity that don’t really fit into the other categories. I consider this list to be of some of the finest studies ever in NT research.<\/p>\n

1. W.D. Davies, The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount<\/span>. Long, demanding, but an incredible piece of work that moves through the evidence like a well-constructed novel.
2. C.H. Dodd, According to the Scriptures<\/span> and The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments<\/span>. Two separable works that really belong together: the first explains how the early Christians used the Old Testament and the second the ground of early Christian preaching.
3. C.F.D. Moule, The Birth of the New Testament<\/span> and The Phenomenon of the New Testament<\/span>. Two books that don’t belong together, except that they are both by Moule, a prince of NT scholars and one born with a crystal-clear pen. The first is a unique perception of how the NT grew into shape and the second for those who “have written off Christianity.”
4. E. Hoskyns, N. Davey, The Riddle of the New Testament<\/span>. Like Moule’s Phenomenon<\/span> here is yet another British level-headed approach to what history does in fact teach us about the Christian faith.
5. S. Neill, with T. Wright, The Interpretation of the New Testament, 1861-1986<\/span> (updated in 1988 by T. Wright). Simply the best way to see the big map of how NT studies have developed. I would require this of every serious NT student at the senior college level or in the first year of seminary\/graduate studies.
6. M. Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism<\/span>. The definitive study of the interpenetration of Judaism and Hellenism; his follow ups were Jews, Greeks, and Barbarians<\/span> and The Hellenization of Judaea in the First Century after Christ<\/span>
7. J.D.G. Dunn, The Partings of the Ways<\/span>. A demonstration that Christianity took time to develop and the relationship with Judaism was complex.
8. D. Boyarin, Border Lines<\/span>. I’m not always sure Boyarin’s prose is clear, but his thesis — that it took both Judaism and Christianity three centuries or so before the word “heresy” could develop — is one more study of the interpenetration of these faiths.
9. J. Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Christ<\/span>. Formerly, the must study for those interested in Judaism.
10. E.P. Sanders, Judaism: Practice and Belief<\/span>. Sanders thinks Jeremias got it all wrong, and here presents an alternative understanding of Judaism — and relies heavily upon Josephus.<\/p>\n

These are some heavyweights, but these books are both classics and necessities for understanding earliest Christianity.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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